Monday, October 08, 2012

Carrot Hesarubele Kosumbari - Vegan MoFo day 6

Hello everyone! Hope you all had a wonderful, drool-alicious weekend visiting various MoFo-ers blogs and also coming up with more delicious vegan food posts for your own. I'm really looking forward to blog hopping and seeing what you all come up with for week two of Vegan MoFo! :)

My last week's theme was Desserts. This week it's Soups and Salads. I'll start off with a traditional, South India Kosumbari - a salad that is topped with a basic Indian tempering of mustard seeds, curry leaves and asafoetida that have been heated in oil. Kosumbaris can be made with different combinations of veggies and soaked/sprouted lentils/beans.

They are one of the first few things which are served on the Banana Leaf 'plates' during meals at traditional events like festivals, weddings etc...

Today I'll be sharing a quick and simple Carrot Hesarubele Kosumbari. Hesarubele is the Kannada word for Moong Dal (Split Mung Beans). It a lentil that can be enjoyed raw. It's healthy and tasty.

Carrot Hesarubele Kosumbari

Carrot Hesarubele Kosumbari

For the salad:

1/4 C Moong Dal (soaked for at least 2 hours and drained)
3 large Carrots (grated)
2 Green Chillies (crushed)
Lime Juice
A pinch of Turmeric

For the tempering:

2 tsp Coconut Oil
1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds
1 T fresh Curry Leaves
1/8 tsp Asafoetida Powder

Mix all the salad ingredients together in a large bowl.
Use your hand and squeeze everything lightly as you mix to get the spice, salt and lime juice into the carrots.

In a small pan, heat the coconut oil on high for 30 seconds.
Add the mustard seeds and cover the pan immediately (with a small gap to let the steam escape).
When the mustard seeds almost stop crackling, add the asafoetida powder and mix for a few seconds.
Add the curry leaves and stir for another 30 seconds or so.
Turn off the heat.

Now pour the tempered ingredients over the salad and mix lightly.

Serve immediately and enjoy! :)

Carrot Hesarubele Kosumbari


  1. Man, there is just something so HAPPY looking about that dish. Maybe the yellow dal and the orange carrots. I want to eat the hell out of it.

    Also, I genuinely didn't know you could just soak and eat mung dal and now I'm really excited.

    1. Haha thanks, I guess orange is a really happy colour and carrots are a very happy vegetable. :)

      Yeah, many people outside India are surprised when they hear that mung beans can be eaten raw. Do let me know how you like it when you try it out.

  2. Great way to kick off week two of MoFo. I have never cooked with curry leaves bu this recipe could definitely chage that. Vibrant and delicious looking.

    1. Gi, curry leaves are super rich in iron and they really taste yum when stir fried in oil. You should totally start cooking with them.

  3. That is a gorgeous salad - all piled up so beautifully!

  4. such cute little bowl, filled with a perfect bright salad!love it

    1. Thanks Richa. Terracotta seemed a good choice for a traditional Indian salad. :)

  5. Vegan MoFo is great for that - I'm adding new blogs to my reading list every day, and reading old favourites too!

    I did not know moong dal could be eaten uncooked - thanks for the enlightening recipe!

    1. Moong dal is so versatile, Joey. It can be eaten raw like this or cooked in the most commonly known way but it's at its yummiest when soaked, drained and then deep fried in oil. What an amazing snack!! :)

  6. yum! looks amazing! thanks for stopping by. Can't wait to see what else you've got going this month!

  7. Cold and Sleepy is right! That looks great!

